1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a composed element, a multi-layered board and a panel-shaped element for forming such composed element.
More particularly, the invention aims at a composed element comprising at least two panel-shaped elements which are coupled to each other, can be coupled to each other, respectively. Herein, the invention relates to any form of composed element comprising at least two or more panel-shaped elements, irrespective of the field of application, and irrespective of the fact whether the composed element substantially consists exclusively of the panel-shaped elements or whether these panel-shaped elements solely form a part thereof.
Although the invention can be applied in any application, it is intended in particular for being applied in the fields of furniture, walls and wall coverings. Herein, the invention in particular aims at connections between panel-shaped elements, as well as multi-layered boards, which are particularly suited for application for such panel-shaped elements.
More particularly, the invention aims at connections between panel-shaped elements, which can be realized in a smooth manner and are suitable for being applied with furniture that is sold in dismantled condition and has to be assembled by the buyer himself. Herein, this relates in particular to so-called flat-pack furniture.
It is known that furniture panels are coupled to each other in various manners. A classical technique consists in connecting them with dowels driven into openings and also fixed by gluing, which, however, is a technique which is not very suitable for do-it-yourselfers.
2. Related Art
It is also known to supply connection accessories with the furniture in the form of a large number of pins, screws, clamping pins and so on. On the one hand, this large number of accessories makes it difficult for the user to keep track of how he has to assemble a piece of furniture, and, on the other hand, the manufacturer has to package all these accessories along with the furniture parts, which requires extra costs and work. In particular with so-called flat-pack furniture, wherein all parts are delivered in a flat package, it is desired to keep the package to be sold as simple as possible, both in respect to a simple production and composition in a flat-pack and in respect to user-friendliness towards the buyer who has to assemble the furniture by himself.
Also, it has already been proposed to connect furniture panels by means of coupling means which allow turning two or more furniture panels at their edges into each other. However, the proposed solutions show certain disadvantages, as a consequence of which up to now no functional solution has been offered for composing furniture panels and such to a larger whole in a simple manner.